Tsunami hits Sendai after M7.4 quake

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2016-11-22
Japan
Earthquake
A powerful earthquake with its epicenter off Fukushima Prefecture occurred at 5:59 a.m. Tuesday, sending a strong jolt throughout the Tohoku and Kanto regions and triggering a tsunami 1.4 meters high at Sendai Port in Sendai.

The earthquake measured a lower 5 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in areas including Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture; Takahagi, Ibaraki Prefecture; and Otawara, Tochigi Prefecture.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the magnitude of the earthquake was estimated at 7.4 with its focus at a depth of about 25 kilometers.

The agency issued a tsunami warning for Fukushima Prefecture at 6:02 a.m. and for Miyagi Prefecture at 8:09 a.m.

Tsunami reached wide areas of the Tohoku and Kanto regions. At Sendai Port in Sendai, a tsunami of 1.4 meters was observed, the highest since the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

The agency also issued a tsunami advisory for the Pacific coast from Aomori Prefecture to Chiba Prefecture, as well as for the Izu Islands chain.

The agency said a tsunami of 90 centimeters high was observed in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture; 80 centimeters high in Kuji, Iwate Prefecture, and Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture; and 50 centimeters high in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture.

The agency downgraded the tsunami warning issued for Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures to a tsunami advisory at 9:46 a.m.

All the tsunami advisories were lifted by 12:50 p.m.

The tsunami warning issued Tuesday was the first since one was issued for Miyagi Prefecture after an earthquake with its epicenter off the Sanriku coast occurred on Dec. 7, 2012.

At a press conference held Tuesday morning, Koji Nakamura, the agency’s official in charge of earthquake information, called on people in areas where a strong jolt was felt to be alert against earthquakes of the same scale for the next week or so.


According to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency and other sources, 17 people were injured in Tokyo and Miyagi, Fukushima and Chiba prefectures.

Source:
The Japan News. November 22, 2016. 1.4-meter tsunami hits Sendai after M7.4 quake. http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003363322